Choices
by Sweet Little Bullet
Summary: Prequel to Same Auld Lang Syne. When faced with the choice of hanging on to the one he loves or letting her go, Emmett must make some hard choices. What will those be? AU/AH. One shot.


**A/N: Hey hey! I'm back! So, I thought I should dip my feet in the water a little since it's been such a _long_ time since I've written anything. So here is this. It's the prequel to "Same Auld Lang Syne" and something I've been thinking about for a while. Hope you like it and let me know what you think. Huge thank you to my wonderful, talented, spectacular *insert more adjectives here* NWBS. As usual all characters belong to Stephenie Meyer and not me.  
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**~Rosalie POV~**

My heart was thudding behind my ears and I was pretty sure the old lady looking at the cat food could hear it because she kept turning her head to give me sidelong glances out of her peripheral. Though, that could've been because of the fact that I was sweating worse than a turkey on thanksgiving. I was sweating in places I didn't even know could sweat. I licked my lips, the only dry place on my body as I glanced up at the counter one more time as I waited for the woman currently paying to get done and move out of the way. It was bad enough I was having to do this with Bella Swan at the counter, I didn't need the rest of Forks to know.

After a few centuries the lady finally left, waving at Bella as she headed towards the door and I made my dash towards the counter, my hand reaching in my pocket for the twenty dollar bill I had shoved in there while my mom wasn't looking.

"Hi Rosalie!" Bella said eagerly. I swear it was like looking at a puppy. It wasn't like I hated the girl but she tried way too hard.

"Hi Bella." I said quietly.

"How are you today?" Bella asked, her hand smoothing the dark green apron she wore over her grey sweatshirt.

"I'm good... I um... I..." I stammered, my heart thundering away as I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I need a pregnancy test."

"Sorry what?" Bella smiled and I didn't know if it was because she really didn't hear me or if she was just laughing that I had gotten myself in to some stupid kind of trouble.

"I need a pregnancy test." I said a little louder but still not loud enough that Mike Newton could hear it from where he was restocking the spaghetti-o's. As sad as it was I trusted Bella more than I trusted Mike who would undoubtedly tell Jessica Stanley who opened her mouth more than she opened her legs.

Bella's face went whiter – if that was even possible- and she nodded curtly, reaching behind her to grab one of the bright pink boxes and ring it up. "four twenty-two."

I nodded in thanks as I pulled out the money and she double bagged the box before handing it to me. She barely had time to hand me the change before I was heading out the door and towards my house.

The ten minute walk seemed to take only a few seconds before I was standing in my bedroom, staring at the offensive little white stick on my dresser. The light knock on my door startled me and I jumped to answer it lest it was my mom trying to get "more involved in my life" as she liked to call it. I just called it being nosy.

"Hey." I breathed out a sigh of relief as I let Emmett slide past me in to the room. His face looked more worried than mine and I couldn't help but feel the guilt pulse through me. "How much longer?"

"A minute and a half or so." I choked, wringing my hands as I started to pace back and forth in front of my bed.

I was close to tears, I could feel them threatening to spill over my lashes and down my cheeks at any moment. Emmett's hand was gentle yet firm as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him, positioning me on his lap and running his fingers through my hair as he kissed my temple.

"We'll be okay." he said quietly and the tone of his voice made me think he was saying it more to himself than me.

"How?" I asked, my voice cracking. "You're leaving in less than a month for Kansas of all places and I'm going to UW and my parents will kill me and..."

"Rose... we'll be okay." He said again, more firmly. "But why don't we look at the test first."

I took a deep breath and nodded before steadying myself and walking across the room.

My hands were shaking as I picked up the test and then the paper I had positioned beside it.

**~Emmett POV~**

Rosalie turned around slowly. "It's negative." she finally said quietly and I could feel the color returning to my face.

"That's great." I breathed because while I had tried to reassure her that everything would be okay, my mind hadn't stopped reeling and screaming at me since the moment she called me in a panic.

Rosalie nodded before wadding up the instructions and tossing them in the trash along with the used pee stick. I stood up and crossed the room, wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing the top of her head.

"What are we going to do Em?" she finally asked quietly.

"About what?" I asked, letting her go.

"About us Emmett." She snapped, stepping away from me.

"What about us?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

Rosalie shook her head and walked to her window seat, pulling her legs up under her as she blinked her eyes against the tears I knew were threatening to come.

"You're leaving Emmett..."

"You can come with me. Rosalie you could get in to any college you wanted..."

"But I'm not leaving Emmett. Not with my mom. My parents, they need me. I won't leave them. And besides that, I don't want to leave. And yeah, I was terrified today Emmett but only because it's not time yet. I want to have a job and an education but I want a baby Emmett. Maybe two, or three. I want a family and..."

I shook my head, pinching the bride of my nose between my thumb and my forefinger. "Rose we've talked about this. I'm not...I don't want kids. I don't want to be tied down. I want to play football and make something of my life. I don't want to be stuck here working on cars or the grocery store or something."

"So you don't want to be like my parents." She said, her eyebrows raising.

"No, that's not what I meant." I sighed.

"But it's what you said Emmett."

I sighed inwardly, I was fighting a losing battle. Once Rosalie made up her mind about something it was done. My best shot was to give her a day or two to cool down and think about things. I kissed her goodbye and told her I was sorry and I left to let her think about everything. But in the end it was me who ended up thinking about things.

I met Rosalie before graduation. She was wearing the cherry red dress I loved her in, her hair pulled back and curled and her lipstick made her lips look irresistible, but resist I did as I pulled up beside her in my car and steadied myself for what I was about to do.

"Hey." She said quietly as she climbed out of parents car and came to join me leaning on the hood of mine. "My parents want to go to dinner after graduation and told me to ask if you would want Kelly's or maybe go to Port An..."

"Rose." I cut her off, turning to face her and I knew that my face would give away my intentions before my words did.

I was right. I watched as her face fell and she swallowed thickly. I couldn't believe I was about to do what I was about to do. This was the girl I loved with all my heart. I had watched her grow up from nerd to prom queen in front of my eyes. I had given her all my firsts and I had presumed all my lasts. She was the one I called when I was having a bad day or when I couldn't sleep. She was the one I dreamed about. I had lost my virginity to her and had cried with her when she had regretted not waiting for marriage. I had tried my first beer with her and smoked my first cigarette after she told me not to. I had held her hair back when she got the flu and then let her take care of me in return when I got it too. This was the love of my life but I was doing this for her. I was going to break her heart and she wasn't going to see it yet but I could only hope that one day she would. And one day maybe, she would forgive me for it.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too." She choked.

"I want to see other people." I had debated with myself on this for a long time. I hadn't wanted to use any of the cliché lines but wasn't that what we were after all? The high school quarter back and head cheerleader. We were the epitome of cliché and everything else I thought of sounded too cold. She didn't deserve that.

"Why?" She finally asked after what seemed like forever.

"Because we don't belong together Rose. We want different things. I can't give you what you want."

"I can change..." She cried

"I don't want you to. Rose, I want to leave, I want to get out of here. I don't want to be hampered by things like kids and family. I would _never_ settle down in Forks. This is where you want to be. Or... a place like it anyway."

"Em, please." The tears were coming. I could feel it and as selfish as it was, I didn't want to see them. Like it or not I was doing this for her.

"I don't want you Rosalie."

She sucked in a sharp breath as though I'd slapped her and for a moment I thought my plan had backfired as I saw her eyes start to water but then she did what I figured she'd do the whole time. She stood up off of my car and straightened her shoulders. Then she did something I never expected. She turned on her heels and marched towards her parents car and slid in, slamming the door behind her. I jumped off the car but I was too late as she pealed away, leaving me standing in the wake of her dust.

I knew as I watched her tail lights disappear in the distance that it was the last time I would talk to Rosalie and I could only hope that one day she would forgive me for breaking her heart and maybe one day, I would be able to move on from the love of my life.  
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**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed it! Review and feed my appetite, maybe I'll write some more. ;D**


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